Fingerprints Upon My Soul
by spikeismyvampirelover
Summary: The final installment in the Legacy Trilogy.  She had done her work well, she had marked her presence upon me deeper than any wound and more permanently than any scar. Jack thinks of Elizabeth, the source of his vexation. Sparrabeth and JE all the way!


**Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean, I wouldn't be on my computer, now would I? Mwahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!**

**A/N: Well, here it is, the last part of The Legacy Triology ;) Please let me know what you think about it :D Silver Jack Replica Rings to reviewers (some restrictions apply)!**

**ooOoo**

Distance was something I'd always measured with ease. With her, however, I couldn't be far enough away. I couldn't be close enough. This girl had come along and broken every rule I had ever cared to follow, she was the constant source of my vexation and bemusement.

She infatuated me.

She'd struck me to my very core. I'd shown her freedom and life. She'd shown me passion and even love. I felt constantly barren and naked before her eyes, for she saw me, the man behind the legend. She knew me better than I knew myself. She had known I was a good man, she had said she had faith in me. I closed my eyes as I lay in the empty cabin, listening to the sighing wind, preferring to believe she was there in its stead.

Had I done right to leave her upon that rocky shore? A weak promise of return as my farewell, pressing a ring of woven silver and bag of gold into her palms? I could not let myself dwell upon her, that sea nymph I had forsaken. "I do not deserve her love. I must forget her." I whispered. I had spoken the words aloud, why did my thoughts return to her time and time again? I knew she deserved better than me. She deserved a long life, she deserved _love._ "A pirate must not love another." I'd spoken the words many times. "A pirate must love none but the sea." I did not deserve her in my life.

_"Sometimes what you deserve, Jack, isn't what you need..." _ Did I dream her voice in the wind? The cabin was deserted, her presence absent. "Make yourself forget." I intoned.

Why could I not follow my own instructions? She had done her work well, she had marked her presence upon me deeper than any wound and more permanently than any scar. I could still taste her fragrant beauty, feel her skin beneath my hands. She had left her fingerprints upon my very soul, and I could not forget her.

Time passed, as time does, and I thought of her often. Once, it a drunken state, I had sent her a rum bottle with a sketch of my tattoo, to let her know she was not far from my thoughts. Finally, I could wait no longer, her siren call tempted me once again and I could not resist.

We anchored my ship offshore, I took a longboat to the beach. The small stony cottage upon the hill overlooked the sea, and I knew it was hers. Opening the door, I strode through the house till I found the woman curled upon her bed in a far room. She hadn't changed, her hair still loose strands of gold, her brown eyes sparkling. She read a "History of Piracy" by candlelight, her face aglow with the flame.

At my entrance, she looked up.

" 'ello, love."

" You came back."

"Turns out I'm a decent man after all." I smiled.

"You came back." She repeated, that smiled I had missed spreading across her face.

"Aye love, that I did."

" I missed you, Jack." she said quietly. She still hadn't moved from her spot on the bed. I walked over to her, took her book and placed it on the dresser. Grabbing her hands, I pulled her to her feet and wrapped my arms around her.

" Even when I tried to get away, to deny it, I couldn't love. You've marked me, heart and soul. Even the Sea itself knows I'm sharin' me heart. I'm sorry I left you for so long." I placed a kiss upon her head.

"I missed you too, Lizzie."

**ooOoo**

**A/N: Okay, so the trilogy was out of order, but it just seemed to work that way, lol. As you can probably tell, the order would be Dark Shadows in my Eyes, Fingerprints upon my Soul and Emerald Seas upon my Finger. Please review and let me know what you think :)**


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